Visual Studio, Microsoft’s application development environment, often receives updates with new tools for programming, but its interface has remained unchanged over the last ten years. With that, on Thursday (11), the company finally decided to make changes to the platform’s layout to devs.
In a publication on the company’s official blog, the team responsible for the integrated development environment disclosed screenshots that show a new look of Visual Studio with Fluent Design — the same visual identity as Windows 11. Check it out:
According to Microsoft, the Visual Studio design update project is based on three pillars: cohesiveness, accessibility and productivity. The goal is to ensure that the user interface remains familiar to veteran platform developers while becoming more modern and in line with Fluent Design.
“The user interface updates work to create more consistent experiences, making it easier to navigate the product and reducing the time it takes to become familiar with the environment,” explains the Microsoft post.
One of the changes that most highlights Visual Studio’s alignment with the design of Windows 11 is the top bar menus with greater spacing between elements. Icons have not received significant changes, and context divisions remain identical to the current version. Check out:
The toolbar and tab system will also receive changes to modernize the Visual Studio interface. Microsoft explains that by minimizing visual clutter and increasing the spacing between controls, the cognitive load is reduced and the developers’ work environment becomes less dull.
Such design changes are still in development, but the team’s expectation is to make the update available to all users soon.
